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The surprise victory by Sadr's political alliance Sairoon in a parliamentary election last week has put Washington into an awkward position. His Mahdi Army militia fought violent battles against U.S. troops after Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003 .

Despite their past enmity, Washington and Sadr, an Iraqi nationalist, agree on their opposition to Iran's deep influence in Iraq, where it arms, trains and funds Shiite militias and nurtures close ties with many politicians.

Sadr cannot be prime minister himself since he did not run in the election, but has been meeting the leaders of other blocs and setting conditions on his support for candidates for prime minister.

The United States is believed to have some 7,000 troops in Iraq now, though the Pentagon has only acknowledged 5,200 troops.

Sadr, long seen by Iraqi and U.S. officials as an unpredictable maverick, made his surprise comeback by tapping popular resentment toward Iran and anger the Tehran-backed political elite in Baghdad, which some voters say is corrupt.

An Iraqi former senior official said Sadr would try to outfox Iran, but added that he believed Tehran would not tolerate any threats to its allies in Iraq.